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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25212457">Red Riding Hood and the Sleeping Ugly</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaryssaD17/pseuds/LaryssaD17'>LaryssaD17</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Batman and the Robins (I don't know why it sounds like a band name) [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A lot of them - Freeform, Batfamily (DCU), Best Friends, Denial of Feelings, Drama, Explicit Language, F/M, Family Drama, Feelings, Friends to Lovers, Gotham City - Freeform, I'm Bad At Tagging, Kidnapping, Reader and Jason are like really good friends but shit happens and both are scare, References to a few romance movies, Roommates, Team as Family, Teasing, The Princess Bride References, Vigilantism, Weddings, fairytales - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:27:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>11,615</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25212457</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaryssaD17/pseuds/LaryssaD17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"There are princesses that prefer Big Bad Wolves".<br/>"Sounds dangerous".<br/>"Sounds fun". </p>
<p>You and Jason Todd have been best friends since forever and none of you were interested in changing it (except for you, maybe), however, when you get hurt and you have to stay at home and Black Mask decides that it's fun to kidnap you, the friendship you two have changes, for better or worse. It really depends on who you ask.</p>
<p>Spanish version available in Wattpad.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Diana (Wonder Woman)/Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd/Reader, Raven/Damian Wayne, Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Batman and the Robins (I don't know why it sounds like a band name) [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1685449</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>52</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Perhaps</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>English is not my first language, so this may have errors.</p>
<p>1/22/21 I edited most of the grammar errors, but some may have escaped.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>“Cause you’re a good girl</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>And you know it. </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>You act so different</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>Around me”.</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>- “Hold On, We’re Going Home” by Charlie Puth</em>
  </p>
</blockquote><p> </p>
<p>Romance movies have always appeared better fairy tale versions than Disney’s, in your opinion. They have the same silly thing of romance and fairy tale problems but with a little pinch of reality and no one sighing with animals in the forest. (Thank God for that).</p>
<p>For some people that knew you right, especially those that knew about your alter ego that runs the streets and kicks ass with a certain vigilante that look like Red Riding Hood (if Jason heard that, he’ll kill you), it was strange that you liked romance comedies or romance movies at all. You didn’t look like it and your comments had never let other people think of your satisfaction of seeing silly love stories, but you were neither a fan of showing too much emotion, either way.</p>
<p>But yes, you liked romance stories because they gave you a sentiment of normality that your life didn’t have (and that it wasn’t going to have) and, of course, they made you think about if you were going to find that one person like Bruce, Dick or even Damian did (yeah, that was a surprise for all, but Rachel knows what hell she is getting into).</p>
<p>So, when you hurt a leg while in patrol, because you miscalculate the fricking distance, Alfred and the other doctor (the one who attended vigilantes and you totally forget the name of) decided that you <strong> had  </strong>to take a few days off to recover because you were close to breaking it.</p>
<p>And Jason, being the pain in the ass he is, got in ‘super responsible friend’ mode when he heard (a thing you totally hated) and with Alfred and all the rest of the Batfamily, he conspires so you didn’t have any other option than staying home incapable of doing something productive. </p>
<p>You weren’t going to deny that you like being treated like a queen, but you also were frustrated because you couldn’t go to patrol or that the others were treating you like you were a baby. Especially Jason, who was the worst of them because he didn’t even let you move on the couch alone.</p>
<p>You just wanted that torture to end as soon as possible because Jason was a huge pain in the ass (more than normal) and you hated when he did that. So, because of that, you decided to waste your healing time seeing silly love stories on the TV and dream of finding your Prince Charming and life you knew you’ll never have.</p>
<p>In the beginning, you thought that if you saw the movies when Jason was around it was going to be good revenge because not a single man on Earth liked romance movies, but, like always happened, that little-piece-of-shit (he wasn’t small after all) surprised you.</p>
<p>Jason wasn’t like any man on Earth because he liked romance stories, even if they had songs and a lot of clichés.</p>
<p>You were surprised and confused at the same time, but since he was Red Hood, your best friend from all your life never stopped surprising you. (Also, that explained why he had so many fricking books of Jane Austen in his room). Either way, the plan didn’t work and the days you passed tied to the bed because Jason didn’t want you to get more hurt (not even for going to the bathroom) you saw a lot of romantic comedies or simply romance movies on the TV or your computer. Jason sometimes sat in bed with you to see them but other times he had better things to do and asked about them later over dinner.</p>
<p>And all that lead you to that very moment. It was a rainy night and as the dark-haired young man told you, you couldn’t go out, you decided that you were going to see more romance movies in the living room instead of staying in your bed reading classics. </p>
<p>You were taking advantage of the moment because Red Hood was out patrolling and you were alone at home, so that meant that you could move anywhere (with difficulties, of course) but at least you weren’t going to find Jason in the middle of the hallway and he wasn’t taking you back to your room over one of his shoulders like you were a potato sack. (You honestly thought that he was been a pain in the ass just because he felt guilty of you getting hurt, but you knew him and he didn’t worry for other people too much, or at least, you thought you knew him because after the movies you weren’t sure anymore). </p>
<p>After making you some popcorn and putting on the movie you sat on the couch in the apartment Red Riding Hood and you shared from a couple of years ago (in revenge Jason called you Sleeping Ugly because you liked to sleep, but you were sure then you weren’t ugly) and got your injured leg on the coffee table in front of you.</p>
<p>While the night went by you saw a few movies and because you were used to staying up all night, you still saw them until your roommate came through the window all soaked and tired even if his face wasn’t visible because of the red helmet.</p>
<p>“Bad night?”</p>
<p>“Ahhh, more or less”, he answered without enthusiasm, and apparently, he was too tired to even notice that you were out of bed or that he was dripping on the carpet again. “Gonna take a shower”, and with that, he disappeared, and you returned to the couch.  </p>
<p>When you heard him again the movie was on a crucial scene, you'll know, that one where one of the protagonists fucks everything and when she or he realizes it is probably too late and she or he must run to make it right. It sounded super cliché, but you always fell for shit like that. Jason didn’t say anything, and he simply went to the kitchen and returned while drinking from a water bottle.</p>
<p>When you looked at him you found that his black hair (with the white lock he had) was wet from the shower, that his clothes were clean (at least that you hoped) and that he has a few Superman bandages around his body and a bruise in the face, but that was normal.</p>
<p>He threw himself on the couch making you squeak and fear for your life but after giving him a little smack in the arm and that the little-piece-of-shit laughed, you returned to the movie.</p>
<p>It hadn’t passed five minutes when you got distracted again and you didn’t complain at all. Jason was a piece of art (a thing you didn’t say out loud) and you a mere observer.</p>
<p>“You ate popcorn without me?”, he sounded hurt, almost.</p>
<p>“It’s not like you share when you do some”, he got out an offended gasp and you simply rolled your eyes. “Don’t be childish”.</p>
<p>“You love me like that”, and fuck, perhaps you did.</p>
<p>Both stayed quiet again until Jason threw his bottle in the popcorn bowl and lay down on the couch until his head was on your lap. The action surprises you for a second and made you tense a little, but after he got comfortable and signed relaxed, you decided to return to the movie and ignore that he was too close. You weren’t children, you were friends and there wasn’t a reason to get nervous. Well, ya can tell that to your fast-beating heart, sweetheart.</p>
<p>“Can you run your fingers through my hair?”, when you looked at him again, the black-haired man was giving you the sleepy-begging puppy eyes and he confirmed his tiredness with a yawn, but he stayed looking at you, waiting for a response.</p>
<p>“Just if you shut up and let me finish the movie”, you said kind of rudely, like if nothing was affecting you right them.</p>
<p>“Promise”, he responded, and he took your hand after looking for it blindly to put it in his black hair.</p>
<p>You returned to the movie after running your fingers through his hair and see him relax and cuddle a little bit more, even when he was too big for the couch.</p>
<p>Throughout the rest of the movie, you stayed quiet running your fingers through the soft hair of your roommate while he fell asleep in your lap. You knew since the beginning that your actions relaxed him, and you were happy for it because Jason doesn’t sleep too much and when he did, he had nightmares. Either way, you didn’t see too much of the movie because he was a good distraction and you were relaxed too with just seeing him calm.</p>
<p>If life was a romantic comedy, then and just then you two could be something more. But you were vigilantes, dark knights, crime fighters, not two actors on a fairy tale alike story.</p>
<p>Neither was Jason Prince Charming nor you a damsel in distress.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Hell, yeah</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Remember that about Jason not been Prince Charming nor you being a damsel in distress? Well, maybe that sentence wasn’t so far from reality after all.</p>
<p>A few days later of Jason using you as a pillow, of you questioning your sanity because you thought of him as more than your everlasting best friend, of both ends cuddled in the couch, and of you waking up the next day feeling like you crossed a line, things got a little bit like a fairy tale.</p>
<p>That night you were alone at home seeing the Titanic and crying like a silly schoolgirl when a couple of idiots decided that kidnapping the presumed partner of Red Hood was fun. Obviously, you defended yourself but because you had your leg hurt, they succeeded on their mission. </p>
<p>When you woke up tie to a chair in a dark room except for one light, you felt that the situation was too surreal, but when you heard Black Mask’s voice, Red Hood’s worst enemy after the Joker, you knew it was all real, that they have discovered the true identity of Red Hood’s partner and that you were in trouble.</p>
<p>Too much for not being a damsel in distress, ah?</p>
<p>Black Mask started questioning you about Red Hood, about yourself and Batman. It was easy for you to deduce that the only reason why you were there was that he wanted to keep something of Jason, but you also knew that the imbecile didn’t calculate his death if Red Riding Hood entered the door.</p>
<p>“Kidnapping me wasn’t a good idea, you know?”, you said one time because the questioning was getting boring.</p>
<p>“Sorry, did you say something?”, he was surprised because it was the first time, he heard you.</p>
<p>“I said that this is a fucking waste of time and that you’ll die soon”, well, that wasn’t what you said earlier but fuck it. Black Mask laughs like you said something very funny and you simply look at him seriously.</p>
<p>“I’ll die soon? Why? Because your Prince Charming is coming to save you?”, he asked sarcastically and you wanted to hit him in the balls with all your might, but you were tie up to the chair and with an injured leg.</p>
<p>“First of all: Red is not a Prince, second: I don’t need saving and third: hell, sure you’ll die, he’ll kill you after this”, and you sounded so sure even when you didn’t know if he was really coming.</p>
<p>The crime lord laughed again, but it didn’t matter what he said or how many punches he gave you to know something about Red Hood, you didn’t say anything because that was the only way to live longer.</p>
<p>You didn’t know for how long you stayed in those four walls or tied up to that chair. You only knew that Red Riding Hood was taking too long and you were starting to believe that he wasn’t coming to get you, so you tried to save yourself.</p>
<p>It didn’t work out, especially because you were still hurt from your leg and the place was surrounded by thugs.</p>
<p>It wasn’t until four or five days later when your ribs hurtled because of the punches and your clothes stank, that you heard shooting and explosions outside. The place you were didn’t have windows, but you hoped it was Jason because if he didn’t save you, you weren’t going to be friends anymore and you didn’t care if that sounded childish. You tried to get the ropes off you since you were alone in the room, but then Black Mask entered pointing a gun at you. Like if you feared that.</p>
<p>“Don’t move or you’ll die. Your Prince Charming came after all”, he tried to make you still, but it didn’t work.</p>
<p>“He is not a Prince!”, you said, like you weren’t going to die there and then. </p>
<p>You tried to resist, but Black Mask had the advantage, so you decide to stay still, until the door opened, and a tall hooded figure appeared. Black Mask pointed the gun at him while the figure approached.</p>
<p>“He is a Big Bad Wolf”, you said and that sounded more accurate to Jason. And you were sure that some princesses preferred Big Bad Wolves to Charming Princes.</p>
<p>“So, I finally find you, rat”, said Red Hood’s mechanic voice when he entered the room. “It took me some time, but now that you are here, you aren’t seeing sunlight, nor any light again in your motherfucking life again”.</p>
<p>“No, no, no. If you get a step closer, your princess dies”, the crime lord moves the gun to your head again when Red Hood took a step forward.</p>
<p>“All I see is a Sleeping Ugly instead of a princess”, you rolled your eyes. Apparently, the little-piece-of-shit didn’t miss you at all.</p>
<p>“It’s not like you are dashingly handsome, Red Riding Hood”, Jason did something similar to a laugh, but it sounded weird because of the helmet.</p>
<p>“Ha, you know pretty well that I’m irresistible”.</p>
<p>“Just on your dreams, darling”.</p>
<p>“Oh, so, that’s how you’re going to thank me for saving your ass?”</p>
<p>“I remind you that I’m still tied to the chair and this idiot is pointing me with a gun”, you said and Jason put a hand on one hip like a mother about to scold a child while Black Mask looked at the argument confused.</p>
<p>Before he could do anything, Jason took out one of his guns and shoot Black Mask straight in the head, making him fell dead to the ground.</p>
<p>“Told you”, you said to the corpse. “Now, untie me”, you said looking at Red Hood, but after putting his gun back to his holster he stayed there, looking at you. “Are you mad or something?”</p>
<p>“No”, he responded and after sighing tiredly you decided to untie yourself, yourself. “Is just that…”</p>
<p>“We need to go”.</p>
<p>“Oh, yes, yes, there’s a bomb on the first floor that it’s going to explode in five”.</p>
<p>“A bomb? You’re such a drama queen”.</p>
<p>“You’re the one who sees romance movies”.</p>
<p>“Don’t judge me, Todd”, Jason steps close and helped you with the ropes and when you stand, you stumble a little but he catches you.</p>
<p>“Can you walk?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, Red Riding Hood”, you responded even when your head was spinning.</p>
<p>“I should tie you to that chair again”.</p>
<p>“But you aren’t going to because you love me too much”, you laugh at it, while you tried to walk and it was supposed to stay like a joke, but Jason surprised you again by saying something.</p>
<p>“Hell, yeah I do”, you almost fell again but before you could touch the floor, Jason took you and put you on his shoulder like a damn potato sack.</p>
<p>You were going to complain, but you were too busy thinking about his response.</p>
<p>Jason step out of the room and shoot some guys that were still alive, you helped with that how you could and when you were around the second floor, time run out.</p>
<p>“Well, Ugly, I miscalculated, and we need to take a shortcut”.</p>
<p>“What do you me…?”, and before you could even think of ending your question, Jason threw you through one of the hallway windows.</p>
<p>Thank God that there was water at the other side and that you knew how to swim.</p>
<p>“Water cannon!”, someone yelled, and you had to move so, Jason didn’t crush you when he touches the water.</p>
<p>The building exploded but you were too busy waiting for Jason to emerge to see the show he left.</p>
<p>“You’re an idiot, you know?”</p>
<p>“Oh, c’mon, you can’t deny that it was funny”.</p>
<p>“No, no it wasn’t. You didn’t even warn me”.</p>
<p>“I said we were going to take a shortcut”.</p>
<p>“Three seconds before throwing me through a window!”</p>
<p>“That’s how you thank me for saving your ass?!”</p>
<p>“I don’t need to be saved”, and you started to swim to shore because you were someone at Gotham beach.</p>
<p>“Tell that to the chair you were tied to, princess!”</p>
<p>“I’m not a princess!”</p>
<p>You didn’t open your mouth until you were out of the water and the cold was killing you.</p>
<p>“You okay?”, you ask like the argument from a few minutes hadn’t happened.</p>
<p>“Yeah, you?”</p>
<p>“Good”, you answered just when you started to shiver from the cold.</p>
<p>“You’re a terrible liar”.</p>
<p>“And you a terrible Prince Charming”.</p>
<p>“I thought I was a Big Bad Wolf”, you stopped suddenly, thinking that he didn’t hear that. When you look at him again, he didn’t have his helmet and his domino mask was the only thing on his face.</p>
<p>“You really heard that?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, and I’m hell not forgetting it”, he started to laugh while you gave a joking punch in his arm. You started to laugh too, but you stopped seconds after when you started to look at each other like idiots.</p>
<p>And in three seconds, like if both were thinking the same, you walk to each other and crash in a hug.</p>
<p>“I looked for you everywhere and I was scared I was late”, he said with a completely different voice, that one he used when he was scared.</p>
<p>“I thought you weren’t coming”, your confession sounded just like his words. You put your legs around his waist to hug him better because he was way too tall. “And I feared that”.</p>
<p>“Don’t say that, I’ll always come for you. Doesn’t matter where you are. It’s a promise”, the black-haired man planted a kiss on your head, and you felt better. You felt at home.</p>
<p>“You will always be worthy of saving, even if you are ugly”, you roll your eyes and he started to laugh and didn’t let you go.</p>
<p>“I hate you”.</p>
<p>“Lying is a sin”.</p>
<p>“I didn’t lie”.</p>
<p>“You love too much, and you know it”, you separated from him to look at him and smiled when you saw him smirking.</p>
<p>“Hell, yeah I do”, and you kiss him on the forehead before hugging him tight again.</p>
<p>Later, when you were having another silly argument, Batman and Robin came to take you home even when you felt like you were already at it.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Maybe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Ugly!”, you rolled your eyes when you heard him from the living room. Apparently, the idiot wasn’t going to forget about that nickname anytime soon.</p>
<p>“Ugly the one you have between your legs!”, you yelled back from your room where you were seeing ‘The Proposal’ while you were trying to get better from old and new bruises.</p>
<p>“Love you too!”, he yelled again, and you smiled, but he wasn’t there to see it.</p>
<p>“Good for you!”, was your response while you took one of the chocolate bars you purchased, well, that Jason buys like a sorry gesture for the kidnapping event.</p>
<p>You returned to the movie on your laptop while you took a bite of the chocolate bar and footsteps got close in the hallway. Jason appeared at the door with what looks like the mail in hand, but you decide to ignore him because you were missing the movie.</p>
<p>“This is yours”, he said, and he tried to throw them, but the envelope was cheap, and they crashed on the floor before they even touching the bed. “Opps”.</p>
<p>“Very childish”.</p>
<p>“You know you like it when I’m childish”, you got out a really loud laugh that made you almost choke with the chocolate while Jason entered your room, took the envelopes, and threw them in your bed. He then threw himself making everything in bed jump.</p>
<p>“Don’t be a brute”, you said before kicking him a little with your good leg. Jason responded with one too, but it was clumsy and missed you, so he got his tongue out like a child while he read a specific letter. </p>
<p>You pause the movie because it was clear that with him there you weren’t going to see anything of it. You hold the chocolate with your mouth while you took your letters and opened them. One was to remind you how broke you were and the other was a bill. You threw them to the side and decided to return to the movie when Jason distracted you again.</p>
<p>“Barbara called”, you did a noise that indicated surprise because your mouth was full of chocolate.</p>
<p>You haven’t seen the Batfamily (except for Batman and Robin the other day) since they made you stay home because of your injured leg that was healing as slow as a turtle.</p>
<p>“Was to scold you for blowing that building up a few days ago?”</p>
<p>“Nah, that was Bruce's job”, he answered, and then smiled while he put all his weight in his right elbow.</p>
<p>“Then?”</p>
<p>“It was to ask me if I had received this”, he then shows you what looks like a fancy invitation to something important. You got out an enthusiastic noise and got the invitation out of his hands in a second.</p>
<p>“Jesus you’re like the neighbors when there is new gossip”.</p>
<p>“Shhhhh”, you said to read the invitation and he simply giggled.</p>
<p>You read the invitation between mumbles until you got to the exciting part.</p>
<p>“What the hell?! Dick and Barbara are getting married?!”, Jason started laughing like an idiot when you reacted, but you didn’t understand why you were so surprised.</p>
<p>Dick and Barbara had been trying to work for years, literally. They had broken up a thousand times and returned to each other another thousand. It was almost like they were trying to look for something in other people and when they didn’t find it, they returned to each other because just them had what they were looking for. You didn’t think that was healthy, especially when Dick had flirted with half of Blüdhaven, but if marrying was stability for them, so be it. You were happy for them either way.</p>
<p>“Why are you surprise? Those two idiots have been in love for centuries”.</p>
<p>“Yeah, but they had broken up like ten thousand times”.</p>
<p>“And returned another eleven thousand times”.</p>
<p>“You right. Maybe they are made for each other after all”.</p>
<p>“I just hope that, if they have kids, they aren’t like Dick”, you smirked.</p>
<p>“Dick is cute and Barbara gorgeous, I think their children will be beautiful”, you said like it was you shiping your OTP from a book. “Here says that the wedding is in three months and now I feel like Barbara has been planning this for a long time and she didn’t tell me. I’m offended. Have you seen my phone?”, you started to search but didn’t found it.</p>
<p>“Here, it fell”, he said while he sat and threw you something you catch, even when you had your chocolate still in hand. </p>
<p>“Yeah, it fell when you threw yourself like if my bed was a fucking trampoline”.</p>
<p>“You definitely don’t know how to have fun”, you mock him while he looked at you from the other side of the bed and you tried to unlock your phone.</p>
<p>You had the phone in your ear, and you were finishing the chocolate when the bed started to move, and you felt Jason getting dangerously close. But before you could respond to the “Hello” on the other side of the phone, the black-haired man was just a few inches from you.</p>
<p>You were going to say something, forgetting completely of the chocolate bar because you were busy looking to his beautiful eyes when pam! Jason took the last piece of your chocolate bar from your hand with his mouth.</p>
<p>You froze for a few seconds, processing the move, while he runs away laughing evilly.</p>
<p>“I hate you!”, you yelled with all you might.</p>
<p>“Lying is a sin!”, he responded, and you wanted to kill him, but you didn’t, because even if you were upset, you had a smile on your face.</p>
<hr/>
<p>It was a relief to you that Barbara accepted your help with the wedding planning because you were tired of being locked at home (with Jason, who got more annoying after the kidnapping) and help in something important to the family.</p>
<p>At the beginning of the planning, you were always limping around because your leg wasn’t fully healed and Jason solve the problem taking you anywhere over his shoulder like you were some kind of potato sack (he embarrass you once in Walmart and you didn’t have any intention of returning to that store in your life), but while weeks went by, your bruises and leg healed and Jason didn’t complain about you being slow as a turtle but didn’t let you alone for too long either.</p>
<p>You also started going out to patrol with him again, because the death of Black Mask the drug business was a disaster, so he needed help setting back the order, so your help was needed and welcome, even if he didn’t want to say it out loud.</p>
<p>You were one day at the Wayne Manor with the girls, sat in the living room doing some of the table decoration for the wedding when Stephanie decided that talking about boys was a good idea. You didn’t like the idea too much especially because you were the only single in the group, well, Cassandra was also single, but she wasn’t there to make you company, although she was coming to the wedding. So, when Stephanie started talking about Tim and things you didn’t want nor needed to know about, you felt out of place.<br/>Raven, Barbara and you listened, of course, but you didn’t want to. You were a disaster with relationships and that was only one of the things you had in common with your male best friend. She later asked Barbara a few things and then asked Raven about Damian and you were in silence doing what you were doing until she decided that it was funny to ask you something. Although the question took you by surprise.</p>
<p>“How about you, (Y/N)? Jason ask you out already?”, your first reaction was to laugh like a maniac because you found it funny, but you stopped once you saw that the girls weren’t laughing.</p>
<p>“Okay, in the first place, why Jason will ask me out or something like that? We are just friends”, Stephanie rolled her eyes, Raven grinned a little and Barbara look at you with a “seriously?” face. And you looked back at them confused like hell.</p>
<p>“It’s obvious that you are more than friends, or at least want to be more than friends”, answered the blonde, and this time you were the one who rolled eyes.</p>
<p>“I think no one told you about the night you were kidnaped”, started Barbara and you look at her hell confused but wanting to know.</p>
<p>“When Jason didn’t find you in your apartment that night and just a Black Mask note, he contacted us. He was so scared and desperate that he contacted Batman. Have you seen Jason do that after being Red Hood?”, explained the redhead and you were considering the idea. Jason didn’t work with Batman if he could stop it. It had to be an emergency.</p>
<p>“Okay, but that doesn’t mean anything. Like, we are best friends, we share food, clothes and a home. Best friends do that, save each other”, Barbara rolled her eyes.</p>
<p>“Yeah is normal to panic when something bad happens to someone you love, but Jason was a disaster. He was so scared, so lost, he didn’t even know what to do or where to search. He wasn’t himself”.</p>
<p>It was normal for Jason to lose control sometimes, but he was working on it. Still, it didn’t feel right to you. He changed a lot after he came back, but you helped him with his bad aspects, even if some were permanent. You couldn’t imagine Jason acting scared because of you. It was a surprise, though, the fact that he looked for help in the place that, according to him, he hated the most, with the people he hated the most.</p>
<p>“Don’t forget the part where he didn’t eat nor slept because he couldn’t find you anywhere”, said the redhead of the group.</p>
<p>“Alfred had to sedate him while Dick and Bruce hold him because he didn’t want to rest”.</p>
<p>“Girls, Jason will do that for all his brothers because he loves you even if he says otherwise”.</p>
<p>“For his brothers yes, for Bruce, not so much”, said Stephanie and you rolled your eyes. “I don’t want to ruin your friendship or something, but I think that you’ll do beautiful babies”, you wouldn’t be going to deny that that thought has crossed your mind a few times when he was too close, like that night he fell asleep in your lap.</p>
<p>You decide to change the topic and the girls went with it until the decoration was finish and you called Jason to pick you up. Stephanie and Barbara went to the kitchen and you were left with Raven in the living room while you wait for your best friend when she said something. And that was really a miracle since she wasn’t a talker like Stephanie.</p>
<p>“You know? Because of my…powers, I can confirm what the girls said”, you look at her and you didn’t have to ask what she was talking about. “It’s true that best friends worry about each other, but in those days that you were gone, Damian ask me for help and the only thing I could feel was all the fear and angst and hate Jason had inside himself. It was like a…wild beast that was ripped from something and he was willing to move, sky, land, and sea to get it back. It was because of you, I’m certain and the most curious thing is that I have never perceived so many emotions from a best friend to another like that. Not even when Damian and I were…’ just friends’”, she actually did the comas with her fingers and it was also the first time you saw her smile or talk more than a few words. “What I want to say is that, even if you don’t think or love him like something more, you shouldn’t let him go. You could…you could regret it later”.</p>
<p>You look at her for a few seconds and then swallowed hard. You were possibly an open book for her now.</p>
<p>“Thanks for your advice, Raven”, she simply gave you a tiny smile and you return to your phone.</p>
<p>Jason arrived a few minutes later on his motorcycle and after saying goodbye, you got out and found him at the front still in his vehicle.</p>
<p>“You okay, doll?”, he asked you, with a worried tone when you arrive at his side.</p>
<p>“I had told you a million times to not call me doll”.</p>
<p>“Ah, c’mon. I call you ugly, you get mad. If I call you doll, it’s bad. If I tell you, love, it’s not appropriated…you’re just sensible”, you rolled your eyes while you put on your blue helmet that you have been caring all day and that it was yours since Jason decided that using a car in Gotham, like normal people did, was boring.</p>
<p>You got in the motorcycle behind him and you grab him by his waist loosely.</p>
<p>“Really?”, he asked looking over his right shoulder, while you rolled your eyes because you knew what was coming. “At least if you aren’t going to let me call you sweetly at least grab me tight, so you don’t die or something”, he pulled your hands until you were practically hugged to him and your hands were locked over his abdomen.</p>
<p>“This is super cliché”.</p>
<p>“Thought ya liked romance movies because of that”.</p>
<p>“Don’t judge me. All girls dream with a Prince Charming”.</p>
<p>“Yours could be a Big Bad Wolf”.</p>
<p>“Why the hell a…?”, you started but then stopped when you realized what he was talking about. “Oh. Ha, only in your dreams, Todd”.</p>
<p>“According to you I’m a Big Bad Wolf and since Red Riding Hood doesn’t have a Prince, in theory, he counts as a Prince because I’m a hell of Prince Charming Material”, you rolled your eyes again, feeling like it had been the tenth time. </p>
<p>“He is the bad guy of the story! And he is way too old to Red Riding Hood!”</p>
<p>“Well, not all stories are perfect and tell that to the crazy people on the internet. Anyway, the point is that the Big Bad Wolf counts as a Prince and I’m 100% sure that he will be a better one than the other idiots”.</p>
<p>“Well, there will always be girls who like trouble, but just shut up and take me home”.</p>
<p>“As you wish”, he said before making a very dramatic pull-up in which you had to hold tight, so you didn’t fell.</p>
<p>“Did you just quote ‘The Princess Bride’ on me?!”</p>
<p>“Maybe!”</p>
<p>Maybe Jason really was your Prince Charming after all and maybe, just maybe, you were just scared of ruining that long and beautiful friendship you have.</p>
<hr/>
<p><br/>After arriving home and that Jason kept talking about why the Big Bad Wolf was a Prince and why he was Prince Charming material, but you keep being the Sleeping Ugly, Roy called because he had a job (you know the kind) to Jason and he wanted to discuss it personally with the black-haired man. So, because you were better from your leg, and in theory that was the only reason why he didn’t want to leave you alone, he trusted that you will be alright for a couple of hours.</p>
<p>“Jay, I’m not five”, you said while you were washing the dishes that you guys used to eat pizza because, again, Jason was too lazy to cook, even if it was his day to do it. “I know how to take care of myself”.</p>
<p>“I know that, that you’re capable of killing people with just your thighs and that katana in the living room, but I just want you to promise me that you’ll call me if something bad happens”, you sighed. “Ahh, ‘I’ll do it, honey’, will be enough. </p>
<p>“Don’t even think that I will call you honey”.</p>
<p>“You call me darling once”.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t my intention”.</p>
<p>“Yeah, sure”, he said with sarcasm. You decide to ignore him. Jason put on his brown jacket but wait for you to say something.</p>
<p>“You’re waiting for an invitation to go?”</p>
<p>“Waiting for the ‘I’ll do it, honey’ yours”, he replied with a smirk and you look at him.</p>
<p>“No”.</p>
<p>“At least tell me that you will call if those idiots appear again”.</p>
<p>“We killed half of the ones that were alive”, you remind him, and he rolled his eyes frustrated, before pulling you to him to give you a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll get going then. Will return in a few hours”.</p>
<p>“Don’t drink too much!”</p>
<p>“You aren’t my mother!”, you rolled your eyes while you heard him walk to the door. “Love you!”</p>
<p>“I don’t love you back!”</p>
<p>“You are the most heartless and cruelest person I have ever met in my life”, you laugh about his antics and when you heard the door close, you whispered an “I love too” that he never got to ear.</p>
<p>Jason put on a red helmet (not Red Hood’s), got on his bike, and then pull up to that bar Roy and he uses to meet for everything. He had a little hurry because he had patrol that day and he wanted to arrive early. Additionally, that he didn’t like the idea of leaving you alone after that kidnapping thing even if he trusted with his soul that you could kick the asses of anyone who tried to that again.</p>
<p>When he arrived at the bar, he parked his bike, get off his helmet and enter with it in his hand. The bartender greeted him with the false name he always gave to people since he was legally dead. When he found his best friend at the back, he sends two fingers to salute and Roy responded the same way.</p>
<p>“Thought you weren’t coming”.</p>
<p>“I had to convince, or at least try, (Y/N) to call me if something bad happened”, he replied while he sat at the booth after putting his helmet on the table.</p>
<p>“It’s like nothing ever happened?”</p>
<p>“Absolutely nothing. I really don’t know if that’s good or bad”, he intertwined his hands in the table like Bruce doing a business.</p>
<p>“Well, no suffering PTSD after a kidnapping is a blessing, is okay”.</p>
<p>“What was the job you wanted to talk to me about?”, Jason asked, and Roy was about to answer when one of the hot waitresses of the bar approached to see if Jason wanted a drink.</p>
<p>The black-haired man answered with the name of a beer and then ignore her, a thing that didn’t pass Roy’s attention. In general, Jason always flirted with women, but since the kidnapping, it was like he was…blind.</p>
<p>When the woman was gone, Jason looked at Roy again like anything never happened. He was waiting for his friend and he looked like he was thinking.</p>
<p>“You’re in a hurry or something?”</p>
<p>“I don’t like to leave (Y/N) alone”.</p>
<p>“You didn’t have a problem with that before”.</p>
<p>“Yeah, but now it’s different. I was thinking of telling her we should move to another place just to be sure since Black Mask’s thugs can find us”.</p>
<p>“You sound like you are too worried about that. Didn’t you tell me the other day that you had the thing under control? That half his people were dead?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but there will always be an idiot who does something really stupid to get to the top”.</p>
<p>“I don’t think it’s possible, at least not when The Hoods are taking care of it”, the redhead’s tone make it sound dramatic and that made Jason roll his eyes.</p>
<p>“You make it sound like if we were married or something”, Jason laughed about his own comment, but Roy didn’t, he, looked at him with a strange face. “Don’t tell me you’re in a bad mood too”.</p>
<p>“No, I’m okay, don’t worry, is just that…”</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>“I didn’t call you for a job”, Jason gave him a frown.</p>
<p>“For what then?”</p>
<p>“It’s not a job since you told me you weren’t going to take jobs before the wedding so you could go in one piece, but…”, Roy was interrupted by the waitress's arrival with Jason’s beer. He took it and didn’t even said thank you.</p>
<p>“But?”, Jason took a sip of the bottle after opening it and Roy moved forward a little, like if he didn’t people to hear what he was about to say. Either way, there were so many people and music that nothing of what he was speaking, was going to be heard.</p>
<p>“When are you going to tell (Y/N) your feelings for her?”, Jason looked at him with genuine confusion for a few seconds until he catches of what he was talking about. Jason rubbed his eyes after a tired sigh and then ran his fingers through his hair.</p>
<p>“Roy, Ko’ri, you and I, had this conversation before and we got to a logical conclusion”.</p>
<p>“Yeah, we discussed it, but Ko’ri and I came to a different conclusion”, Jason sighed again like he was a teen again and Bruce was about to scold him for breathing the wrong way. “Really, Jay, when are you going to tell her? You had been friends for a very long time, you kick asses together, and I know you feel something for her. You even see those silly romance movies with her!”</p>
<p>“Hey, they aren’t silly”, answered Jay with a defensive tone. “It’s full of cliché and all that shit but is still better than Disney. Anyway, I won’t tell her anything because I don’t see her that way. I just feel eternal gratitude because she stands me, accepted the monster inside me, and went to Hell and back with me. I don’t think she sees me in any other way neither”, Roy rolled his eyes and wanted to tell him that it was pretty obvious that both of you felt something more than ‘gratitude’, but he decided to not tell.</p>
<p>“If going to Hell and back for you isn’t enough to marry her, I honestly don’t know what else is”, and maybe, just maybe, he was right because Jason knew how difficult being with him was.</p>
<p>“Why you mention this now?”</p>
<p>“Dick wanted me to talk to you about it and because I’m your best friend too and I’m worried”.</p>
<p>“What the fuck Grayson wanted?”</p>
<p>“Same as me. We think that after (Y/N)’s kidnapping and you move sky, sea, and earth looking for her and you were about to lose your head because of that, we understood that we were seeing a side of you that we have never seen before”.</p>
<p>“I don’t have all day, Roy”, the redhead put his hands on the table. </p>
<p>“I mean that you’re a monster without her”.</p>
<p>“I have always been a monster”.</p>
<p>“Yes, but without her, you are a wild beast, a monster who can’t be tamed. With her you are different, you’re Jason, not Red Hood. And I know you for a few years, Dick knows you from a long time ago, and we have never seen a person having that effect on you. Have you thought about it at least once?”</p>
<p>Jason looked at his friend for a few moments and swallow hard.</p>
<p>If he has thought about it? A thousand times. It was true that he was another person with you. You were the only thing that makes him feel human after he came back from the dead, the only thing that calms him after a nightmare, the only thing that remembers him that he was more than a helmet, a killer, and an idiot jumping from rooftops at night.</p>
<p>You had taught him too much within the years, you had helped him and he in exchange has given you nicknames and shit because he was a coward and a selfish bastard, because you were too much for him, you were an angel.</p>
<p>“(Y/N) and I am just friends and I don’t want to stress her more just because Grayson and you think I’m in love with her”.</p>
<p>“We don’t want you to be lovers, marry or have kids, although they will be hell cute, what I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t let her go”.</p>
<p>“Why will I do that?”</p>
<p>“Because you are an idiot”, Jason chuckled for three seconds and then fell quiet. “You’re my best friend and I want you to be happy because even if you don’t believe it, you deserve all that silly shit and (Y/N) is a great person and maybe when you realize everything, it may be too late”.</p>
<p>Jason didn’t say a lot before that. He asked about Ko’ri and then about his daughter and drank his beer. After Roy left Jason stayed looking through the window like the answer to all that shit was there.</p>
<p>Maybe you were a princess, after all, maybe it wasn’t too late, maybe you could be happy at the end like he wants, but never told.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Definitely</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The wedding came faster than you and Jason would have liked. You were happy for Dick and Barbara, but you didn’t like the idea of wearing expensive clothes and uncomfortable shoes. Anyway, you did everything because you both love them, and it was their greatest day. (Or at least, most of it).</p>
<p>“Riding Hood!”</p>
<p>“What!”, the black-haired man was in the living room trying to calm down a very nervous Richard at the other side of the phone.</p>
<p>“Need a favor!”</p>
<p>“Now?!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, now!”, Jason rolled his eyes and got out of the couch and after putting his phone in his pocket, he went to your rescue again. “It’s for today!”</p>
<p>“Ha, very funny. What about that of not wanting to be saved?”, Jason opened your door with too much force and found you struggling with your dress. “Don’t tell that the damsel is in distress”, you gave him a death glare and he chuckles before approaching to help you.</p>
<p>“I need to button up this. I’ll do it myself, but I don’t see shit and the mirror doesn’t help”, you said, and Jason’s fingers brushed against yours when he went to hold the dress clasp.</p>
<p>“Shit this is a hell of small”.</p>
<p>“Told you that it was difficult”, he tried to button it, but it was transparent and small, so the damn thing wasn’t helping. “You should sue the fashion designer of this shit”, you giggle a little while you hold your hair up, so it didn’t disturb his mission.</p>
<p>Suddenly, Jason’s phone started ringing.</p>
<p>“That idiot. I don’t get why he calls me”.</p>
<p>“Because you are his favorite brother and his best man”.</p>
<p>“I thought his favorite sibling was Damian.</p>
<p>“Dick is Damian’s, but you are Dick’s.</p>
<p>“That’s a pity because none are my favorite”, you rolled your eyes and the phone kept ringing. “Can you be a good doll and fetch the phone for me? I’m tired of hearing it”.</p>
<p>“Thought you liked AC/DC”, you said, referring to his ringtone, while you tried to reach his pocket blindly.</p>
<p>“I like AC/DC, what I don’t is Dick fucking my patience. You know what? I’m gonna break this little shit”.</p>
<p>“NO!”</p>
<p>“But it’s being a bitch”.</p>
<p>“You can’t break it. This dress is almost two hundred bucks”, you told him, and he sighed while you found the phone. “Don’t you there break that clasp”.</p>
<p>“Alright, I’ll see if I can think about something”, he replied, and you answered the phone without looking who it was.</p>
<p>“Jason!”, it was Dick. And he sounded anxious.</p>
<p>“Dick, calm down. Jason is a little busy right now but…AUCH!”, you yelled and looked at Jason over your shoulder. “My hair!”.</p>
<p>“Oh, please, I didn’t even touch it!”</p>
<p>“Did you button it up or not?!”</p>
<p>“Hell yeah, I did!”</p>
<p>“Thank you!”</p>
<p>“Your welcome!”, and then you returned his phone and he started leaving your room.</p>
<p>“Don’t take it the bad way, but you too fight like Bruce and Diana”, said Dick once Jason was in the hallway.</p>
<p>“And what the hell that’s supposed to mean?”</p>
<p>“That you sound like you are married”, Jason rolled his eyes and was tempted to hang up.</p>
<p>A few minutes later, when Dick’s anxiety returned and Jason was doing everything, he could explain to him that marrying was terrible, but not that terrible, you appeared ready to go.</p>
<p>Your dress was blue, long, and without sleeves, with the clap at the back of your neck and another one in the middle of your back. Your hair was lazily braided over one shoulder and you didn’t have a lot of makeup. You were looking for something, though, and Jason knew it was your little handbag. </p>
<p>Jason has seen you in many colors and clothes before, but blue has always been the best color in you. And he was breathless because you look like a total princess.</p>
<p>“Have you seen my…?”, you couldn’t finish because the thing you were looking for appeared in front of you thanks to Jason.</p>
<p>Jason was wearing a black suit with a white shirt underneath, black Converses instead of fancy shoes, and a messy red tie.</p>
<p>“Hope Barbara doesn’t see those Converse”, especially since he was the best man.</p>
<p>“What she doesn’t know, isn’t gonna kill her”, he replied and then he looked at your feet and saw the white Converse you had, sneaking out from under your dress.</p>
<p>“Hope Barbara doesn’t see you with those Converse”, he repeated your words and gave a smug smirk like the little-piece-of-shit he was.</p>
<p>“What she doesn’t know, isn’t going to kill her” you answered, with the same smirk and you both laugh like the idiots you were.</p>
<p>But before he could tell to go, so you didn’t arrive late to the wedding, you stop him for a moment.</p>
<p>“What are you doing?”</p>
<p>“Going to fix this mess before they kill me because the best man is not decent”, and you started making his tie knot while Jason picked his phone again because they were late to the wedding.</p>
<p>When you finish the tie, you run out of the apartment, got in Jason’s bike because you were too late for a taxi, and when you got to the church both of you look like a hurricane passed over your hairs and clothes. </p>
<p>“Run”, you told him, offering your hand for him to take while you got out of the bike.</p>
<p>“God, I’m coming”, he took your hand while he chuckled and both of you ran to the church. </p>
<p>For luck, the ceremony hadn’t started yet and, even if Stephanie was mad because you look like a scarecrow (no pun intended), no one noticed that Jason and you had arrived holding hands.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The wedding ceremony was beautiful, and it almost made you cry if Jason wouldn’t have to keep making faces in your direction and almost made you laugh and ruin the wedding. It was the most embarrassing moment ever, but in the end, Dick and Barbara marry and no one notice you wearing Converse instead of high heels.</p>
<p>After the wedding, the guests and the newly married move to Wayne Manor where the celebration took place. They took a lot of photos until your smile hurtled and Jason gave a funny and embarrassing speech.</p>
<p>Then a few wedding protocols were made and then the party started. The music could be heard in the distance and the decoration was like a fairy tale. You had a great time, even if it didn’t quite show it on your face. Been surrounded by all the people you consider a family made you happy and lucky of having one. You greeted a few guests that you knew with your vigilante alias, and it was awkward sometimes because that people didn’t know you as you did. You also greet old friends like Kori and Roy and some of the Old Teen Titans. You were so happy of spending so much time with people you knew and didn’t see for a very long time that you forget the most important.</p>
<p>“Have you seen Jason?”, you asked Diana when you pass by her side.</p>
<p>“I think I saw him near the entrance. You know he doesn’t like parties so much”, she replied with her accent and you thank her with a smile.</p>
<p>You started getting away from the lights, tables, and people and you started to walk to the front yard of the manor. You had to take your dress with your hands, so it didn’t touch the floor a few times because wearing Converse had disadvantages when you had a long dress on. </p>
<p>Just as Diana told you, Jason was near the entrance of the Mansion’s property, under a tree, sat in the grass with a beer and a cigar between his fingers. You rolled your eyes without knowing exactly why you were surprised when he didn’t like parties but liked something that could give him lung cancer.</p>
<p>“Really?”, you asked him when you arrived. Jason looked at you like a child who has been caught doing something he shouldn’t. What made you put a hand on your hip to let him know how annoyed you were.</p>
<p>“Don’t take it the bad way but with that dress, you look like a princess”.</p>
<p>“If you said Elsa, I’m…”</p>
<p>“You look like Elsa”, both of you talked at the same time and after looking at each other for a few seconds, you both started laughing like idiots. Jason dropped the cigar and turned it off with his Converse. </p>
<p>“Thought you were going to leave it and I hope you’ll get that because of its contamination”, the black-haired man rolled his eyes.</p>
<p>“I can’t stop it when I’m nervous”, he replied and you tried to find a place to sit with him, but Jason stretched his hand to you when he saw you and you got it almost like you read his mind. You took his hand and he pulls you to him until you were sat in front of him, facing the mansion.</p>
<p>“Can I know why you are nervous?”, Jason moves his legs a little so he could hug you from behind and you understood that that dress was going to be a hell of a mess later.</p>
<p>“I have the coolest best friend in the world, and I don’t want to lose her”, he said within a few centimeters from your ear. You had to look over your shoulder just as you hold his arms that were around you.</p>
<p>“Talking about me?”</p>
<p>“Sometimes you’re naïve as fuck”.</p>
<p>“Please, is not like you are very intelligent”.</p>
<p>“At least more than you”.</p>
<p>“Oh, Einstein they call you”, you said looking at the mansion and the cars parked outside.</p>
<p>“Don’t get mad, ugly one”, he said and then he hugged you like if you were a teddy bear. You complained a little but didn’t let him let go.</p>
<p>Both of you stayed quiet for a little bit, looking at the building and listening to the party’s music until you remember what he said.</p>
<p>“Why are you afraid of losing me?”, you asked suddenly while Jason took a sip of his beer.</p>
<p>He went silent for a few seconds and you didn’t dare to look at him. Your heart was beating fast for the waiting and after he left the bottle, his hands landed on your shoulders.</p>
<p>“Have you ever imagined something for us?”, you made a frown but didn’t say anything. “For example: leaving together until we are old, travel the world or simply get out of this place. I don’t know, have you ever thought about us? Us being something more than friends, seen romance movies, using each other as a pillow?</p>
<p>You swallow hard and didn’t dare to move or say something.</p>
<p>“Because honestly, I had, and I think it is a dream too beautiful to be true. I love the silly things we do, the nicknames, the movies, the fact that I’m me with you, that without you I’m a complete disaster (more than I already are), that you have been with me through hell and back and that you don’t give a fuck putting on with me and…and I don’t want to lose that. I don’t want to lose <strong> my best friend </strong>”.</p>
<p>The silence was present for eternity. It was torture to Jason considering that he just said everything he had silent since he had that conversation about you with Roy. He wasn’t sure of what you were going to say, but if he was sincere, he didn’t want to hear it either.</p>
<p>So, like the coward he was, he gave your shoulders a squeeze and put a kiss in your head before getting up with his beer in hand and the squashed cigar in the other. He got away, in the direction of the party, exactly from where you came, while his heartbeat like it was going to give him a heart attack. He wished while he got away with each step, that you will call for him and tell him that you felt the same way like a scene of a romance movie, but that didn’t happen.</p>
<p>Jason returned to the party threw the cigar at the garbage can and drank from the beer until the end like there wasn’t going to be a tomorrow.</p>
<hr/>
<p>You were quiet, more than normal of course (even if you thought that Raven knew what was happening in your head). You never were a person of expressing emotions nor talk a lot, except for when Jason was present, and he did or said something very stupid that made you laugh or feel like an idiot.</p>
<p>The truth was that you were a person to the world, but when you were with him, you were another one.</p>
<p>You swallow hard and looked at the beer you had between your hands. You didn’t know if it was the second or the third, you just knew that drinking looked like the most logical thing to do after everything Jason told you.</p>
<p>You didn’t know what to do or say. You weren’t sure if all he said was his way of saying ‘let’s marry and get out of this shithole’ or if it was another thing that you didn’t get. You were a little confused with what you felt because Jason and you have been friends for soooooo long. Once you desired to have a normal life, having something more with Jason, but when he said it to you, you froze and didn’t know what to do or say. You didn’t want to ruin the friendship, but hell yeah you wanted something more if he was okay with it.</p>
<p>You met when you were kids in Gotham streets and you had each other because the people who were supposed to love you, failed completely to do it. But then life separates you when Jason became Robin and a family adopted you and took you out of the city. Both of you didn’t saw each other for years until Bruce Wayne write to you one day to tell you that your best friend was dead.</p>
<p>You were a total disaster after that. You had considered Jason your only family, the place you return after a long day, the person you could confide anything, even if it was silly, or with that person that you could fart, eat with the mouth open, or not be judged at all. But when you knew that he was dead, you changed, you stopped being yourself.</p>
<p>You became a monster, a wild beast that no one could tame. In that time, you did a lot of crazy things, you trained in various martial arts and you get obsessed with avenging Jason’s death since Bruce wasn’t going to do it. You started a conflict with Bruce (now long forgiven, according to him) and the rest of the world and you lived hunting the Joker and ate anger all the time. That’s how Red Hood’s partner in crime (literally) was born. Product of the anger, the sadness, and the loneliness of not having your best friend in the same realm.</p>
<p>When Red Hood appeared, when you knew that Jason was back from the dead (literally) the beast inside you calmed down, demonstrating that it was just your grieving and suffering clouding your judgment and being. Jason and you returned to be best friends (after a few problems and his stubbornness) and you never get to be the same again, but at least the monster inside you found the way to stay calm. Your monster found another one to speak in the dark with.</p>
<p>With Jason you were you. You weren’t a wild beast, you weren’t a damsel in distress, you weren’t a blue katana hanging from the living room wall nor just a vigilante that jump from rooftop to rooftop in a blue costume. With Jason you were yourself. The real you. And God knows how much you have tried to be yourself with other people, with a lot, but they always find a defect in you, they always wanted to change you. But with Jason, you could be you, without judgment, without him waiting for you to be someone you weren’t, even if you were a little shit or even if he was always teasing about you being ugly. He was always there for you, when you needed a shoulder to cry or a cane to walk.<br/>You cleaned the tear that started to roll down your face and you wanted to believe that you were crying for a stupid thing, but no. Jason wasn’t stupid shit. He was your best friend and after so many years, after so many hells, you couldn’t just leave things like that. You were never going to have a normal life. You will never stop being what you were even if you ran from it, but at least you could try. Because if you didn’t do it, you will lose two things: his friends and himself.</p>
<p>And you couldn’t lose him. Not again.</p>
<p>You get up so fast and so suddenly that the people at the table look at you startled for a few seconds. You apologized and started running, leaving the beer and everything behind.</p>
<p>You search everywhere for him. You looked at the party, the yard and you were going to do the same with the manor until you saw Alfred where you remembered Jason’s bike was parked, which wasn’t there.</p>
<p>“You took more than I expected, miss”, he said with his accent and his seriousness like always. “The Big Wolf left to that pub he always goes. If you need a carriage you can take one of master Bruce’s bikes”, Alfred gave you the keys and you smile at him before taking them.</p>
<p>“Thank you, Al”. </p>
<p>“I’m glad that you both have decided to take a chance. Wish you the best of lucks, miss. Now go, and bring him home”, and that’s exactly what you did.</p>
<p>Before getting in the bike, you broke the two hundred dollars dress so you felt comfortable, supposing that you could always pay Barbara or someone later. The dress was now a little above your knees and after putting on your helmet, you pulled up just as dramatic as Jason always did. Once in Gotham, you passed all speed limits and a few other things before arriving at the bar. You were relieved to see that Jason’s bike was parked in front and that his red helmet was resting on top of it. You were fast to park, get your helmet out and enter the bar to meet with him.</p>
<p>You found him sat at the counter with his head hidden between his arms and a beer not too far. You knew it was him. Only him came there when things got fucked up.</p>
<p>You started to approach slowly, with your heart beating strong against your ribcage and having cero idea of what you were going to say or do. Leaving crossed your mind, but you discarded the idea because you weren’t a coward, you weren’t going to run from this again.</p>
<p>“Good night, what can I serve you?”, a waitress interrupted your walk and you looked at her kind of startled because you didn’t saw her coming your way. Still, you were fast to answer.</p>
<p>“I’m just here to fetch him”, you pointed the black-haired man at the bar. </p>
<p>“Oh, you should be (Y/N). The poor boy has been talking about you since he came”, you didn’t know what to tell her about that, but she didn’t appear to want a reply, either. “In my opinion, you should give him a chance, at least after all you have been through.</p>
<p>“I will”, you sounded so sure that you couldn’t believe yourself. The waitress smiled and say that she will let you alone, even when the bar was full and there was a lot of noise to leave them be.</p>
<p>Once she was out of sight, you get close to Jason like you were sure of everything.</p>
<p>“Jay”, you called, and he didn’t answer at first. You roll your eyes and poke him in the arm. “Red Riding Hood”.</p>
<p>“Oh, what?”, he asked half-sleep, half-drunk while he sat straight.</p>
<p>When he looked at you, he stared at you for a couple of seconds with those green eyes of his that made you feel like you had always been in love with him.</p>
<p>“Are you an angel?”, he sounded sad, sleepy, and drunk at the same time, if that was possible.</p>
<p>“I’m far from it”.</p>
<p>“A princess?”</p>
<p>“Even farther”.</p>
<p>“I think the princess concept suits you better. After all, you have a…what the fuck happened to your dress?”, his eyes look at you alarmed when he saw that half of your dress skirt was gone.</p>
<p>You smile a little.</p>
<p>“I had to cut it off before coming”.</p>
<p>“Like if you came in a fucking horse”.</p>
<p>“Came in a motorcycle, which is the same”, Jason looked straight into your eyes again. “Have to run after my Prince Charming”, you incline your head a little and move your shoulders up like saying “I didn’t have an option” in the most innocent way possible.</p>
<p>“I thought that I was a Big Bad Wolf because you didn’t like Princes”.</p>
<p>“There are princesses that prefer Big Bad Wolves”.</p>
<p>“Sounds dangerous”.</p>
<p>“Sounds fun”.</p>
<p>You smiled innocently again while you stared at each other for a couple of seconds until Jason got up from his chair, with so much force, that he almost ran over the chair. But he ran at you and hug you with all his might. The hug was so warm and tight, holding you in all the right places that you melt in it while you hugged him back. Because Jason was your synonymous with home.</p>
<p>He was, is, and will always be your home and family, regardless of what life said.</p>
<p>“Sorry for being a coward”, he said with a sad voice still hugging your waist. “You don’t have to say that you love me just because I was an idiot and said that I wanted to be more than friends. And it doesn’t matter what you say today, I’ll always love you, you’ll always be my best friend and my Sleeping Ugly”.</p>
<p>“You’re not a coward, Jay. You’re my best friend and what has been keeping me sane and healthy since we were seven. And losing you scares me more than seeing IT with the lights out”, you release him a little to see his face. The black-haired man didn’t want to see you at the eye, and you didn’t make him. “I’m me with you and I’m not saying it because I feel like I have to, no. I’m saying because I sometimes imagine myself with you somewhere without capes, guns nor Gotham”, Jason locked eyes with you with something in his eyes that felt like hope. “Maybe with a baby or two too, but what I’m trying to say is that I’m ready, if you want, to try. Try to be more than best friends sharing an apartment, using each other as a pillow while we see romance movies”.</p>
<p>When you finished you swallowed hard and looked at another place to get a few tears that escaped from your face.</p>
<p>“What if it doesn’t work?”, he asked, and you lock eyes with him again. “What if death separates us again if life gets bitchy and tries to make us fell apart? What if hell gets over us again and being together doesn’t work at all? Then what?”</p>
<p>“Then we try again, and again and again because if we did it once, we can do it one thousand times more”, you both exchanged a look that felt eternal.</p>
<p>“Can I kiss you?”, he asked, with a shy tone, something that sounds strange and really unlike him. You couldn’t hide a smile.</p>
<p>“Hell, yeah you can”.</p>
<p>Jason wasn’t going to say it out loud, but that kiss felt like fireworks and honey and he swears that he has never felt so alive before.</p>
<p>When you separate both of you giggled like idiots and you hugged again like you did when things went good or bad, like if you said to each other that everything was going to be alright even if the sky was falling over your heads, even if you felt the loneliest.</p>
<p>“I love you”.</p>
<p>“Me too, Riding Hood”, you answered back.</p>
<p>“I take back what I said about you been the most heartless and cruelest person I have ever met”, you laugh and has a consequence he did too, all while he hugged him tightly, enough to make your feet leave the floor for a few seconds.</p>
<p>And well, life wasn’t a fairy tale, nor a romance movie, even less a Jane Austen’s book and it wasn’t filled with Princes Charming nor damsels in distress (at least not like in the movies), but yes it was filled with opportunities, connections and people that were worth a broken two hundred dollars dress and opening your heart to.</p>

<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>
    <em>“Cause you’re a good girl</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>And you know it</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>I know exactly who you </em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>Could be”.</em>
  </p>
  <p>
    <em>“Hold On, We’re Going Home” by Charlie Puth</em>
  </p>
</blockquote>
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